New Norwegian CEO Doesn’t Yet Have Answers to Low-Cost Long-Haul Profitability Problem


Skift Take

Maybe it was a bit too much to expect some big strategic initiatives from such a new CEO, or maybe the airline is keeping them under wraps for now. But an airline with Norwegian's historic problems cannot tweak its way to viability.

Norwegian Air is keeping plans for its transformation close to its chest as the company embarks on a pivotal year. New CEO Jacob Schram, who has only been in the job since January 1, outlined his vision for the company in an update that was big on ideas but light on detail. He even went as far as to say he doesn't yet have a strategy for how to make the much-vaunted low-cost, long-haul strategy profitable. “I don’t have the answer on what turns long-haul profitable. I just see that what Norwegian has done is interesting. Trying to get low-cost succeeding on long-haul nobody [has] kind of proven that business model yet. But I see a lot of opportunities that we can do on short term, but then we also need to think long term what kind of strategy will bring this to profitability, as you say, and fuel the company," Schram, who has a